There’s a new TV villain in town and his name is Azande, portrayed by TV favourite Siyabonga Sepotokele.
A first for Sepotokele, he steps into playing a TV bad boy in popular telenovela Inimba, marking a shift from the heroic roles audiences have grown to love him for.
He unpacks his career turn to Sowetan.
Sowetan: How is it like to join Inimba?
Sepotokele: It’s been amazing. Everything happened so quickly. From getting the call to come and do the read to getting confirmed. I got confirmed on a Friday and I was told, ‘Listen, on Monday you should come through.’ Everything just happened so quickly. I got in there and it was beautiful. Great crew, cast and production.
Sowetan: How was that first day on set like?
Sepotokele: Pretty cool. They had the language advisor there for me because I hadn’t spoken isiXhosa in a very long time. Being multilingual is nice, but language needs you to speak regularly to get back into the mode. My only stress on the day was the language, Xhosa-wise. But as soon as I got into the space and everyone was speaking the language, we got there.
Sowetan: What can viewers expect?
Sepotokele: Azande is Lazarus Ngcukana’s (Loyiso MacDonald) cousin. Basically, Azande was groomed to take over the Ndlovu family business. He was taken to top schools and sent overseas to go and learn business and work in big companies just to basically be sharpened to come back and take over the family empire.
He comes back after two years in America and we’re introduced to him in the first scene of the first episode of the second season. The way we’re introduced to him is very shady because it’s suggested that he had just slept with Qhawe, who is played by Ayakha Ntunja.
So, he’s a bit of a bad boy who ultimately becomes a villain in the season because when he comes back, he’s met with a lot of resistance from his uncle and the family.
Sowetan: How did you prepare to play the dark side?
Sepotokele: I ‘people-watch’, not in a weird way. How I build my characters is basically from people that I’ve experienced in life. This character is a result of manifestation because I had been saying that I’m always playing the good guy and I wanted to challenge myself with playing someone who is not a favourite. With playing the bad guy, I didn’t want it to be obvious evil. He’s still a normal guy, but you can tell that this guy is up to nonsense.
Sowetan: What lessons have you learnt from your journey in the industry?
Sepotokele: Humility is key. Respect before everything. Respect for yourself, your work, your colleagues and your supporters. Stay low and keep firing. Never forget why you’re doing what you’re doing and always be intentional. Don’t go in there for vibes. Respect the work and respect your audience because people can see when you’re playing with them.
Sowetan: What are your hopes for the future of SA television?
Sepotokele: I hope our country moves in a direction where the industry gets regulated and people are protected. There are shows that we’ve done that are licensed to other countries but unfortunately we never get compensated for that. Some artists end up dying poor. They die with just a name.
